Silver Eyes Ruby Dragon
by Skij Leonhart
Summary: My reboot (thanks, Elea!) of EleaDancingOnAPin's Silver Eyes; this is the 'part 1' of Silver Archive and features dragon!Ruby. Currently rated T, soon to be M for adult themes, violence and maybe a lemon at the end? Who knows... The cover picture's a little Final Fantasy 8 joke -Skij
1. SERD I

**A/N: Check in-depth AN at the end.**

Silver Eyes; Ruby Dragon

* * *

Chapter I:

An Ursa's paw slammed Weiss in the gut and hurled her backwards into a stout oak tree. Weiss hit the tree hard, her head splintering a branch, her right arm snapping like a twig against another. Dropping to the ground with a firm thud and a grunt, she took a deep, frantic gulp of air, desperate to refill her lungs from the winding. Before she could recover, however, a Beowolf lunged; even as she rolled away, she felt burning claws rake across her injured arm's shoulder.

Flicking Myrtenaster faster than the eye could follow, the terrifyingly sharp blade sheared through its throat and it fell with a dull thud. Weiss, however, barely had time to get to her feet before the next three Beowolves came. Myrtenaster flashed again and a sheet of flickering fire caught them in mid-air and burned them to ash. She stood hazily, dazed and confused, as the rest of the remaining Grimm encircled her. Weiss dropped into her fencer's stance, shaking uncontrollably; the point of her rapier wavered as her sword arm shook with exhaustion and pain.

_Too many. There are way too many. At least three Ursa dens, and a particularly large pack of Beowolves. I'm going to die here… alone… and who have I even saved? A few hundred? If only I could live… I could save more. If only I could live…_

But Weiss was a dead woman walking.

_Weren't all hunters, in the end? Might as well go out strong._

Weiss exhaled slowly, attempting to soothe her shaky limbs as the horde of monsters surged forwards. She blocked two slashes by severing the offending limbs, froze a few Beowolves with Myrtenaster and knocked two Ursi off balance by tripping one into the other with a glyph.

The last Ursa on the offensive caught her with one massive paw, smashing through a feeble protective glyph and snapping multiple ribs as if they were twigs. Weiss skidded endlessly across the forest floor, the leaves doing little to cushion the fall, the rough ground bruising and battering and abrasing skin, muscle and bone. Pain did not discriminate.

Sliding slowly to a stop, Weiss tried to rise but found she couldn't move. She could only stare, strangely calm, as the remaining few Grimm loped forwards.

_Heh. If they left me here, right now, like this… I'll bleed out. I'll die of starvation. I'll go mad from thirst! But instead, they insist on tearing me to pieces. At least it'll be faster…_

A deafening roar interrupted her morbid thoughts. It outclassed the Beowolves' howling, the throaty bellows of Ursi, the squeaking screeching of Nevermores. The was like gale-force winds given a voice, a reverberating wave of sound that rolled over the forest, high and clear and so loud Weiss could feel it in her bones.

Something large and silver flashed briefly across her vision; Weiss could see bright, flashing scales moving like a ghost through the trees (_if ghosts were twenty feet long, that is_); terrifyingly, inhumanly, extraordinarily fast.

With another roar it slammed into the mass of Grimm, tearing everything in sight apart with huge, scythe-like claws; a massive whip of a tail smashing Grimm around and sending broken bodies flying every which way. Weiss couldn't get a good look at the thing; the mass of Grimm piling around her and the sheer speed of whatever was zooming around making it indistinct. In under a minute, the Grimm were very, **very** dead; except one. A huge Ursa Major that Weiss had assumed was the leader of its pack remained alive, poised to defend itself.

She couldn't see what happened after the silver thing slammed into the Ursa Major and they both disappeared from sight. She _could_, however, hear the roaring from what she presumed was the Ursa; it quickly turned to cries of pain; those soon faded into nothing at all. Huge plodding footsteps approached where Weiss laid and they stopped right in front of her.

The last thing Weiss saw was a huge, scaly, _monstrous_ creature before her; four clawed feet, an alligator-esque mouth with wickedly sharp teeth, and large, bat-like wings extending from its back. Ruby-red eyes looked at Weiss with an unreadable expression.

In other words, it was a dragon.

_Beautiful._

Weiss blacked out.

* * *

Weiss' eyes snapped open.

It came in a jolt; everything was disorientingly surprising and a massive migrane was splitting her skull open. Focusing whatever aura she could draw on to numb the headache, Weiss sat up and attempted to analyze her surroundings.

She lay on a rough, scratchy pelt of unidentifiable origin, her clothes were… gone… and every single sensation shot incredible pain throughout her entire body. Everything hurt as if she had been battered, bruised and mauled by a horde of marauding Grimm…

_Oh, wait; that actually happened. Right._

But for whatever reason, the lack of clothes was what frustrated Weiss the most. She could feel her face heated up into a furious blush; it didn't matter that she was alone. Weiss glanced to a clothes rack nearby within arms reach and attempted to snag a hanging pelt from there, to no avail. Her arm didn't move at all and Weiss realized it was horribly broken; at least three places. She reached over carefully with her left, dragging it slowly to cover most of what she could.

_Mildly better._

Weiss looked around, craning her head around to see the entire room. She was in a cave of some kind, with a high, rocky ceiling decorated with stalactites that looked like large icicles. Somewhere, she could hear a fire crackling. And someone moving.

Or something.

Abruptly she lay very still, trying to listen in on the noise. It didn't sound very big; more of a light padding, like someone barefoot. It didn't seem too heavy at all; her first thought had been that the Grimm had found her here.

_How did I get here, anyway?_

The dragon.

Weiss had all but forgotten about the dragon, but as soon as she thought of the word, the images came rushing back. They were extremely rare creatures; not Grimm, but certainly not normal animals either. Supposedly, they had an extremely powerful version of Aura, but nobody really knew because they almost never appeared outside of stories. Everything Weiss knew about dragons was myth and legend.

Suddenly a girl's head popped into Weiss' field of view, bending down to look down at her. The girl had black hair with red streaks, a perky smile and silver eyes. Her chest was wrapped in a set of bandages that ran across her breasts and she donned the scraps of what used to be a pair of shorts around her waist. Weiss focused in on the eyes.

_That can't be a normal color._

"Hiya! Man, it took _forever_ for you to wake up!" The girl chirped in a cheerful voice.

Weiss tried to respond but the answer came out in a rasp. She coughed twice and tried again.

"Could you tell me where I am?" Weiss asked; her voice still scratchy and rough.

"Oh, right. Um, this is my cave… it's in the mountains… somewhere. Oh, I have maps!" With that declaration, the girl disappeared; Weiss could hear bare feet scampering around, rustling paper, muttering.

"Where is it, where is it… oh!"

Weiss heard the peculiar girl's padding towards her; a head poked through the door opening again, this time accompanied by map-filled hands. The girl kneeled and brought the jaunediced, old piece of paper down to the pallet, poking a finger towards a spot in the Ravensroost mountains.

"We're riiiight here." Weiss looked and noticed they were about twenty miles out from the village she had previously been in.

"By any chance, do you have my Scroll with you?" She needed to contact Ozpin badly; tellh him to send someone to get her out of this predicament. Priorities needed to be established.

"This doodad?" The girl grabbed the rectangular piece of technology off the counter lined up with the clothes rack, except on Weiss' left. The room was wide enough for them to fit together along with Weiss and the girl side by side, the latter kneeling next to her new compatriat.

Turning around, the girl passed it over to Weiss' good arm. "Can you use it one-handed?"

"I'll manage." Weiss replied curtly. Softening her tone after seeing the look on her helper's face, Weiss tried again.

"Thank you for saving me, miss…"

"Ruby Rose!" Ruby declared excitedly. "Nice to meet you; what's your name?"

"Weiss," the white-haired girl responded, tapping away at the Scroll with her hand as she propped it in place with her knee. "Weiss Schnee."

_There's no signal! How can there be no signal?! These stupid things are supposed to have reception everywhere!_

"Cool! So, umm… how are you feeling?"

"Not very well." Weiss replied dryly.

_Really, what kind of question was that, given the state I'm in?_

"How long was I unconscious? A couple hours?"

"Oh, uh… two…"

"Two hours? Great; now I just need to get back to th-"

"No, Weiss… Two days."

Weiss stared for a few seconds before erupting in disgust. "Two days?!" She threw her Scroll towards the dresser in frustration.

_I need to get a message to Ozpin! Not write notes or play games, dammit._

She also realized that medical attention was extremely necessary. A couple of idle days could create infection, incorrectly heal her bones, dehydrate her… A dozen medical complications lurked at the edge of Weiss' mind.

"Yeah, I kept all your cuts clean and stuff… but I can't do too much about the bones…" Ruby trailed off, sounding fairly pitiful.

"It's fine." Weiss reassured her. "You saved my life." Then Weiss' brow drew into a puzzled frown.  
_Odd… where had the dragon disappeared to?_

"Ruby…?"

"Huh?"

"How did you find me?" Weiss asked. _Maybe Ruby saw it then._

"Um, in a forest, with a bunch of Grimm?" Ruby replied innocently.

"But they were dead… Did you see anything else?"

"Uh, no they weren't. At least, not when I got there…" Ruby said.

"What..? Yes they were… The dra-" Weiss trailed off, looking at Ruby with a mixture of horror and wonder. Weiss wasn't sure which feeling was stronger. "-gon killed them…"

"Oooh!" Ruby exclaimed. "Now you're getting it. Here, will this help?" Ruby backed up into where she had come from; after a _woosh_ of air, what looked like a large door-frame was soon filled with a scale-covered snout.

Weiss cleared her suddenly-scratchy throat. "Yes. Yes, that helps."

_Man, I really need a drink of water._

Ruby moved back into sight with a rush of air; all traces of previous dragon-transformation eliminated.

"Cool, so, when are you getting out of here?" The dragon girl casually continued the conversation as if nothing had occured.

"I can't." Weiss replied, a little miffed that she was forced to depend on anyone else… for anything.

"I don't have any way to get a message out, and I'm probably assumed dead at this point." Her voice came out calm and confident, but on the inside Weiss was having a meltdown. She was trapped, injured, naked and helpless; she was stuck in a cave with a magical, shapeshifting, lethal (at least to crowds of Grimm), oversized lizard that was also an eccentric teenage girl.

_Fantastic. They don't pay me enough for this. I'm naked, too. Damn it! It's like my worst nightmare found a way to get worse._

"Well… why don't I take you?!" Ruby suggested brightly, seemingly unaware of how incredibly uncomfortable the situation was and could become for many reasons.

"That seems like…" Weiss trailed off at seeing the expectant look on her savior's face.

_Riding into the heart of Vale… into a hunter's academy… on a dragon? Seems incredibly stupid to me._

"I dunno." Weiss finished, not wanting to utterly destroy the cheerful girl's disposition. "I certainly can't go anywhere yet."

"Huh, I guess not." Ruby said, mimicking thoughtfulness before diving into another topic. "Um, so you know if I ca-"

"Wherearemyclothes?" Weiss asked suddenly; it all came out in one breath, inducing a blush, tinging her alabaster skin a light pink. Weiss then looked off to the right, suddenly intensely interested in a pelt hanging from the wall.

"Oh, yea; I have them all right over there," Ruby replied, motioning towards a trunk in the corner of the room. White bits of cloth were slightly visible, but they seemed red for the most part and didn't resemble anything close to the shirt or skirt that Weiss had been wearing earlier. Weiss internally groaned. The dragon-girl blushed suddenly and looked at her feet.

"And I'm really really sorry for taking them off but I needed to clean your wounds and you had blood everywhere and stuff and yeah, really really sorry and I-"

"It's fine," Weiss interrupted, fighting her own blush from spreading like wildfire. "Really, it is."

_Ruby is not at all what I expected out of someone like her. It? Dragons are supposed to be legendary creatures of great wisdom and awesome power… and yet here stands in front of me an extremely awkward teenage girl, not far from my own age. In appearance. Is she a young dragon? What's even young for a dragon?_

Questions flashed through Weiss' mind and vanished when she realized the sillyness of most of them.

_Wouldn't be very polite to interrogate the girl who… saved my life. Is she even a girl, though?_

"Can I have something to eat?" Weiss started, trying to break the silence that had suffocated the room.

_Anything, anything else. This demi-dragon thinking has me extremely confused. My head hurts._

Weiss laid down as Ruby scampered off down the hallway from whence she came. The pale silver haired girl let her thoughts run wild yet again.

_I really wish I could move more. My arm freaking hurts. So does everything else… but my arm really hurts. This ceiling is really high. The room is rather large; bigger than my room back at Beacon, anyways. They sure don't accomodate hunters well enough these days._

Soon, the smell of food slipped into Weiss' nostrils and a call wafted over to her ears.

"White or dark meat? It's duck." Ruby's voice was a little far but was steadily getting louder. Weiss' mouth began to water involuntarily.

"Dark, please." she called in return, right as Ruby came into view holding two plates make of what Weiss could tell to be bone; one with dark meat and one with white. She set down the white meat on a table across the room and walked towards the prone girl with a handful of steaming dark meat, dripping with juices.

"Open wide!" Ruby sang, and began to motion the handful towards her charge's mouth. Weiss simply glared at her until she shrank back and plopped it back on the plate.

"I can feed myself."

_Dragon or not, I have limits. I'm a Schnee, for god's sake. I will not be treated like some invalid… even if I am one._

"But it would be easier to-"

"No." Weiss replied, snatching a piece from the plate with her good hand.

"Man, someone's cranky." Ruby muttered, sitting cross-legged by the pallet and holding the plate out for Weiss to take the scraps of meat. It was gone quickly, disappearing handful by handful. Weiss felt rather uncultured and uncivilized but she couldn't help it; whether or not she wanted to be polite, she was starving.

Ruby giggled when the plate was completely empty. "Wow, you were really hungry!"

"It seems like it…" Weiss responded, chewing on her lip. Weiss then took a cup of water that had been placed by her head sometime previously and drank deeply.

_Staying here until I'm better is out of the question; that'll be way too long and I need to report back to Ozpin. I probably need some serious medical care for my arm, among other things… And Father will probably freak out if Ozpin reports to him that I'm dead. Hopefully they won't send him confirmation without my body. If only I could move! My aura will probably heal me within a couple of weeks… but a couple of weeks!? Damn it all to hell._

"Hey, uh, not to bother you 'cuz you're obviously thinking about something, but, um, shouldn't you tell someone that you aren't actually dead?" Ruby tentatively asked. "Because everyone who thinks you are, is, uh, probably freakin' out right now."

"Well, in case you didn't notice, I obviously can't; the only thing I can fucking move is my one of my arms!" Weiss snapped, catching the brunette off guard. "What do you expect me to do, drag myself down the mountain?"

"I was just gonna say I could do something!" Ruby yelled back, slightly flinching at her own tone. Lowering it, she continued. "I mean, I walk into town all the time. Not looking like a dragon, of course. People just think I'm a crazy girl living in the mountains… sooo…"

Weiss winced and her conscience mentally slapped her in the face.

_I hadn't even considered asking Ruby for help. Then again… I don't really want to. I've already received so much from her… ugh. Goodbye, pride; hello, practicality._

"That would be very helpful." Weiss replied tactfully, to which Ruby nodded and stood up to stretch.

"I'll be back in a few. Try not to move." Weiss resisted the urge to roll her eyes as Ruby winked and dashed out of the room.

* * *

Ruby returned about an hour later with her mouth set in a flat line.

"Soo… they're all kinda, well, gone. I guess they haven't gotten the word that all the Grimm were killed." Weiss cursed silently.

"Then I suppose you'll have to… carry me." Weiss grimaced, furious on the inside with her own helplessness.

Ruby looked the girl on the pallet over with a critical eye before walking over to the dresser while talking.

"Hmm… I don't think I can do it like you are now… but let's try this." Ruby pulled a long knife and several coils of rope from the dresser (_thought there were clothes in there_) and walked over to the skin that consisted of Weiss' bed.

"I'll make, like, a carrying pouch thing!" Ruby motioned wildly with the knife and it was all Weiss could do to keep her worry under control. It was a clever idea, however, and it only took Ruby fifteen minutes to do everything. After finishing, the dragon girl grabbed her knife and the remaining rope, stuffed it back into a drawer and yanked another pelt off of the rack next to it.

"This should help cover you up more, since your clothes are, uh… kinda ruined." Weiss blushed a little but realized it was a cloak made of an animal with white fur. After tugging it closely around her shoulders and front, Weiss' brain suddenly spun as the world shifted sideways. After a few seconds of scraping noises and bumping, she found herself being dragged down a hallway, dimly lit by the occasional torch. Another few seconds passed by and the world became a blinding tunnel; another few, and Weiss saw the sky again. Looking around, Weiss noticed that they were at the top of the outcropping that Ruby had built her home into.

"Hang on!" Ruby shouted before Weiss felt the tug on her carrying pouch increase tenfold. Looking up, Weiss noticed a wall of shining silver scales that outlined Ruby's underbelly; closer to her were the two claws being used to keep the pouch in place. Looking down again, the pale-haired girl noticed they were at the edge of the cliff.

Weiss yelped as the dragon sprang like a cat, wings beating furiously as Ruby gained altitude. The yelp and other curses were drowned out by the deafening noise. Squeezing her eyes shut, Weiss gripped the cloak around hereslf tightly with her good arm.

_I hate heights._

* * *

The flight was mostly uneventful until Ruby decided to land in the center of Beacon Academy's campus. Naturally, the students and hunters weren't about to simply continue their business while a dragon landed nearby. As a result, weapons were drawn and aimed as Ruby swooped to the ground; nervous looks sat upon the students' and teachers' faces alike. Many were poised to strike when Weiss' muffled voice yelled from within the pouch.

"Stop it, immediately!"

Everyone stood in stunned silence; most, likely wondering how the dragon had talked, some, wondering what the hell that furry ball of pelts was and what was inside. None had actually seen Weiss yet, but they hesitated. She sighed and tried raising her voice to a shout.

"Would someone please get Headmaster Ozpin?" To this demand, another voice answered from the group.

"Miss Schnee… is that you?" Professor Goodwitch raised an eyebrow when an alabaster-skinned hand reached out from within the pile of skins as it was lowered to the ground by Ruby.

"Yes, Professor Goodwitch. And yes, it is a long story. And no, I am not in the mood to tell it. Also, I require immediate medical attention, if you wouldn't mind." Weiss snapped, easing the mood of some of the students. Goodwitch's second eyebrow coming up was almost audible.

"Very well. And would someone, please; incapacitate that… beast." Weiss reasoned who they were referring to and a growl came out of her mouth involuntarily.

"Do. Not." She hissed coldly.

"Miss Schnee, you are in no position to be telling anyone what to do while lying there under that blanket. Students, if you please?" Ruby backed away towards a line of trees that made up one of the walls of the center area, hissing faintly as she moved.

_I wish I could see; Ruby could be in danger! Or… maybe the students are in danger. Either way… dammit._

"Professor Goodwitch," A soothing, smooth voice washed over the area, carrying across the entire scene. "May I ask why, exactly, are our students preparing to attack a rare, mythical creature while one of our best hunters is seemingly lying naked underneath an Ursa pelt?" Headmaster Ozpin had materialized, omnipresent coffee cup in hand.

"Ah, Headmaster, I was juts going to-" Glynda began, only to be cut off immediately by Weiss.

"She was trying to completely ignore anything I was saying in order to attack Ruby!"

"Ruby? The creature has a name?" Ozpin sipped at his cup and wondered what Schnee had gotten herself into.

"Yes, sir. In fact, she's quite smart. I think she's actually more intelligent than most of the people here." Weiss noted icily.

Meanwhile, Ruby had slid backwards into the trees, unnoticed by most to be getting smaller until she came out of the tree line once again as a teenage girl, albeit scantily clad compared to the rest of the student population. She waved at the confused, weapon-wielding crowd nervously; understandable after having an assortment of armaments aimed at her with the intent to 'incapacitate'.

"Weiss?" She called shyly. "Uh, your friends are kinda, well, absolutely terrifying. And armed. And scary. Should I, you know, run?" Professor Ozpin shook his head and strode over to Ruby; his cane tapped on the plaza in sync with his orders.

"Someone take Miss Schnee to the infirmary. Preferably someone who's standing around, like an idiot, instead of attending class." A student for each corner of Weiss' tarp started to move her off in the direction of the infirmary; the rest of the students eventually milled back to their respective classes. Ozpin rested a hand on Ruby's back and guided her after the students carrying Weiss.

"Shall we go to Miss Schnee's room? I would love for the two of us to… chat while Miss Schnee rests. I promise certain…" Ozpin looked over his shoulder at a scowling Goodwitch. "over-eager people will leave you alone." A wave of relief flooded through Ruby; she really didn't want any more weapons pointed at her today.

"O-okay… I just really wanna make sure she's alright, ya know…" Ozpin nodded with a slight smile and pushed her onwards.

"As you will, dear, as you will."

* * *

As soon as Weiss was settled into a bed, a nurse moved aside the cloak to stab a shot into her ribs, causing Ruby to wince a little. Weiss immediately fell asleep and a grimace twisted into her expression, causing Ozpin to tsk and take a look at the monitor next to the bed. Ruby took a seat in the chair next to the window and wrapped her arms around her chest for warmth in the cold hospital room.

"The poor, little idiot. Her body is dangerously near to death and yet she stubbornly uses her aura to numb the pain to appear fine to others. Just a couple hours more and she might've slipped into a coma, and for what?" Ozpin huffed and began pacing. "Well, she may have saved your life out there, I suppose. Or possibly that of the students… Who can say?" Ozpin seemed to be talking more to himself now, but Ruby didn't mind much.

"Oh, that's why she was perfectly fine when she woke up… it was kind of a little weird."

"Yes… our dear huntress Weiss is quite possibly the most stubborn person on the face of Remnant. We've had this happen too many times to count. I believe the nurses keep a vial of Ursa tranquilizer on hand with her name on it as a joke…" Ozpin stopped to chuckle and take a sip of coffee.

"She is so dedicated to not expressing her own weakness that she will drive herself to the brink of death to keep up the fantasy that she can handle things." He turned to Ruby as he spun to a stop on his heel, glaring her down over his glasses. "I do believe we need to have a little chat, Ruby."

"Um… aren't we chatting already?" Ruby laughed nervously but Ozpin's demeanor changed none.

_I don't like the way he says 'chat'. He's kinda scary. Real scary, actually._

"Weiss was going to die in that forest, wasn't she? So... why did you decide to play hero for a human?" Ruby was slightly taken aback by the question but answered without much hesitation.

"I just like… helping people?" Ruby ventured, feeling that Ozpin wasn't buying it.

"Hmm." Ozpin mused, turning away to look out of the window next to Ruby. Out beyond was the beautiful scene of the sun setting over downtown Vale, the sun's golden rays fading from behind skyscrapers.

"You know, I've only ever met one other dragon in my entire life, which means I now know two more dragons than most other people on this entire planet… He had quite the vicious tail, razor-sharp wings; do you know him?"

"Oh! That's my uncle Qrow!" Ruby exclaimed, finally able to understand exactly where Ozpin's head was. "Man, I haven't seen him in ages…"

"Hmm," Ozpin mused again. "Well, Ruby, as a showing of gratitude for keeping Weiss alive, I will allow you to stay here as long as you wish. Weiss can help you handle where to stay when she wakes up in a day or two; try not to get in the way of the surgeon who will assess her later." Ozpin slipped off his coat and handed it to the girl.

"Thank you, sir." Ruby felt the need to try to be a little more formal in the presence of this intimidating yet kind man.

"But I do not take deflections or no for an answer. Eventually, you will tell me what you are doing here. If the dragons are returning… I am going to figure out why."

With that, Ozpin left the room coatless.

Ruby wrapped the coat around her front instead of putting it on properly and glanced over at the sleeping figure of Weiss, snoring gently.

_Ozpin's pretty scary. But… I suppose he's not far off with his suspicions; I had to restrain myself from exclaiming with joy when I found out that Weiss stayed here. How convinient! But I, heh, well… I have to find someone to trust around here. But who?_

The only person Ruby could trust at this point was in a semi-coma. Ruby sighed and clicked a lever on the chair that reclined it. Sleeping as a human was less comfortable but it would have to do.

_This is too complicated. Yang needs to get here… very soon. If she doesn't I'm definitely going to screw something up. Hopefully she gets here before anything _too_ bad happens… didn't she say she'd be here 'ASAP'? I bet it's just some acronym for late, like she always is._

Ruby nodded off with her last thought being that Weiss' weapon was still in her cavern and how nice of a gift it might be for her new friend.

_A… friend?_

* * *

**A/N: So! I revamped Elea's wonderful story which she's continuing with a different plot right now. I chose Ruby as the dragon of the two because I really liked Weiss being the human of the relationship. This situation allows Ruby to have her serious vs. silly moments become much more drastic because of the whole issue with… well, transforming into a dragon.**

**This is the first of the two stories in the Silver Eyes Archive. Tell me what you think of my reboot! Please! Pretty please!**

**Please follow, review, favorite and check out Elea's original Silver Eyes fic; it's positively splendid.**

**-Skij**


	2. SERD II

**A/N: SO! SO! SO! sorry for taking so long. Here goes! Hope I don't disappoint all the people that came b/c of Elea ^^**

**Also… I'm hoping to make this non-cliche, so I want people to PM me with how they think this is going to turn out (I think I'm clever but I might not be).**

**I also hope that I got Ruby's brain-thinking done correctly- it's how /my/ brain works and I hope it's readable. I think I made conflicting thoughts clear enough…?**

**EDIT: As I mention in the end A/N; this is shorter than ch1 because I really want something to be out here- this might be a consistent chapter length though; longer wait and longer chapters? or shorter wait and shorter chapters? what say you, (sparse) readers?**

**Here goes!**

**-Skij**

Chapter II:

"_You know what you're there for Ruby. Don't ruin this chance you have; you've practically strolled right in the entrance undetected; this is more than we could've hoped for. Don't screw it up."_

"_Of course, Uncle. But… can I ask why?"_

"_No. You may not."_

"_But Uncl-"_

"_No, Ruby. This conversation is finished. Begone!"_

Ruby awoke with a gasp and blinked rapidly as she attempted to assess her situation, only to find a pale girl situated on a bed, wrapped in the occasional bandage and a hospital gown, covers wrapped in a pile on the floor. The memories flooded back to her in a heartwarming rush alongside concern and worry.

_Has her condition worsened? No, wait, why should I care. But her covers are on the floor, she's shivering._

Ruby got up from the cushioned chair slowly, attempting to work out a rather nasty kink in her back as she bent down to shake out Weiss' blankets.

_I have to help her… but just for now, right? Just have to gain her trust… then we'll see where that goes. What do you mean, Ruby, 'see where that goes', it's simple enough; we gain her trust and then use it to gain an advantage. But isn't that exploitation? Ah, fuck it._

Ruby shook her mind out with a similar ferocity to her current attack on the blankets, silently cursing the tendencies of her human mind to wander.

_Dragoning is so much simpler; none of this complex madness ever happens when I'm flying free, roasting goats, sleeping in my cave… _

The silver-eyed girl cast a glance backwards towards the now-still figure on the bed, an IV running from her arm to a complicated machine making intermittent beeping noises.

_She seems so delicate when she's asleep, cute even...RUBY. We're not supposed to find humans attractive. We _don't_. Cut it out, give her back the covers if you insist, and go sit back down. Wait patiently. But she's so cold… I could warm her up…_

Ruby leaned forward with the half-folded cover in hand and pulled the rim up to Weiss' chest and stopped.

_I could just… how does Yang say it… cop a feel? It'd be harmless; she won't even notice, she's asleep… RUBY. Focus. Give her the damn covers and sit down, we don't have _time _for your human interactions and attractions. But she's still shivering! I could at least warm her up… just a little, I mean I…_

Ruby slowly reached her right hand forward; if Weiss had been awake, she would've noticed a strange energy emission from the half-dragon's hand accompanied by a warm, glowing, swirling light on Ruby's palm. As she touched her palm between the prone girl's breasts, the shivering abated substantially, but not completely.

_Still not warm enough… RUBY. Sit your ass down on that couch, now! But if she dies, who's our way in?_

Ruby's inner voice shut up at this thought; the girl gave a smirk before amping up the energy output slowly; the feeling was akin to sliding a dimmer with the power of the mind.

_Just a little more, and she'll be just fine, just a little mo-_

Three sharp knocks slammed into the door, followed by the door squeaking open slowly. Ruby yelped as the sudden noise shattered her concentration. The result; a smoldering rose imprint emblazoned upon Weiss' sternum. Ruby paused in awe for a moment before yanking the covers over Weiss' smoldering hospital gown**(A/N:1)** and turning to stare out the window like nothing had happened.

"Hello? Weiss, I brought you som- oh, god, why does it smell like something's burning in here?" Ruby turned around nonchalantly and opened her mouth to speak before being silenced by the elegant cat faunus that stood before her.

"I don't stand a chance…" Ruby's mouth leaked before she could stop herself; the newcomer frowned slightly and perked an eyebrow.

"Erm… what was that?" The black-themed girl questioned.

"Oh! I, uh, well, I was saying that I didn't stand a chance against the popcorn that I tried to make earlier. Yeah! That's the burning smell, uh, probably… aha… ha… um, yeah." Awkward silence ensued as the shorter girl shifted her weight back and forth across her legs uncomfortably while looking at the floor. The faunus was rather amused, however; a slight smirk adorned her features and one ear above her head was twitching playfully.

"You must be the dragon girl everyone's been talking about. I'm Blake; nice to meet you." Ruby looked up to see Blake's right hand outstretched with a small, brown paper bag by her side in her left. Ruby stared at the hand for a few seconds before a light bulb connected her thoughts to her actions and she scrambled a few steps forward to take it in her own.

"Oh! Of course, I'm, uh, Ruby. Nice to meet you too, Blake. Are you one of Weiss' friends?" At this, Blake's left eye twitched a little, but nothing anyone without sharp senses would pick up. Scared that she had struck a nerve, Ruby began to spout apologies.

"Oh! That was really inconsiderate- I mean, you don't have to tell _me_ anything, I'm just a strange dragon girl who showed up outta _nowhere_ and I didn't mean to pry so please, I'm so, so so sor-" Blake's soft chuckle interrupted the demi-dragon's**(A/N:2) **rambling before the taller girl patted Ruby on the shoulder and walked by her, setting the bag and a slip of paper on the dresser.

"I guess you could say that I'm a friend, I suppose." Blake turned around to face Weiss, soundly sleeping in her bed.

"Well, it looks like she's still asleep, so call me with her scroll when she wakes up; I want to see her reaction to my gift." Blake chuckled mirthfully before she focused on Ruby's intent and shocked wide-mouthed stare at the incapacitated huntress.

"Is… something wrong?" Ruby blinked twice, startled; mentally cursing herself for acting like an obvious idiot.

_Just play along until she leaves, dammit! But… how did she sleep through that? I don't believe it… and I didn't even think to check if she had woken up yet- how could I be so _**stupid**_!_

"Oh! I, well, when I was making the popcorn I kinda spilled some on her and she stirred; I'm just glad she's back to, uh, sleeping peacefully!" Her tone ended on faux cheerfulness, but Blake simply chalked it up to her dragon heritage.

"Well, alright. I'll be leaving now; I hope you're more competent at keeping watch over her than formulating sentences." Blake only watched with a smile as the partial redhead's face morphed from confusion to understanding to anger in less than a second.

"That I'm _what?_ Excuse me, but I think you went a little too far there; I may not b-" Blake simply rolled her eyes and interrupted loudly.

"Chill out for a second; I was just kidding. Besides; I heard you were responsible for saving Weiss' life out there, and I couldn't be more grateful. If it weren't for you…" Blake shuddered a little bit at the unsaid addition and Ruby could feel the fire that previously swelled in her heart begin to simmer away.

"Anyways, I know it may not seem like it at first, but she really does care about people that care about her; most of the time, she'll just call it "keeping even" but she truly _does_ care, Ruby. Don't get frustrated with her expression at times, or lack thereof. Coffee with two creams and no sugar, by the way. Don't forg-" Ruby's blinking had accelerated to 80 miles an hour and her mind was struggling to comprehend not only the information, but also the reasoning behind receiving said information.

"Woah, woah woah, _woah_. Why are you telling me all of this? How do you _know_ all of this? _Why _are you telling me all of this? I'm not gonna be, like, her guardian for the rest of her life, am I?" When Ruby received no laughter in return, a bit of fear seeped into her tone as a nervous chuckle escaped her lips.

"Am I?" Blake sighed and leaned against a dry-erase board that hung on the entrance's wall.

"Ozpin tells me you'll be her shadow here at Beacon for a week at minimum; she apparently went into aura shock and will need to recover for the better part of two weeks. The job works two ways; your task is to protect her and make sure she gets everywhere she needs to go, on or off campus. However, you get to enjoy the beauty that is our school, Beacon Academy, and the city of Vale, occasionally; not such an awful trade-off."

"Protect her? From who?" Ruby gulped both for the conversation's sake and her own; it was of dire importance that Ozpin hadn't already figured out her reasons for being at the academy.

"From herself." Blake let her words sink in for a moment before nodding and walking out of the room, leaving Ruby in a shocked silence.  
_Of course; we get stuck with babysitting duties. Of all the things a dignified dragon would have to do, it'd be this. Shut up, I'm trying to think here. But so am I! Imagine all the mayhem we can cause with unrestricted access to the school, imagine- I SAID SHUT UP!_

Ruby snapped open her eyes and relished in the cool relief of her overbearing mind's voice's silence. Taking a seat in the chair again, Ruby smashed her face into her palms and groaned, her mind overloaded with information. Any subsequent attempt to categorize anything quickly shattered into pieces like a mirror dropped from five floors up.

"Ruby?" A weak voice sounded from the bed; Ruby shot upwards and was at Weiss' side in a flash.

"You're awake! That's good- Blake stopped by and left you something but told you not to open it until she came back; it might be a while, who knows, but she left her scroll number by the bedside, and I, uh-"  
"Her number? What?" Weiss' senses had, for the most part, fully re-awakened as she fumbled around with her right arm, blindly, to encounter the piece of paper that was just beyond her grasp.

"Here, let m-"

"No, I've got it; thanks." Weiss then proceeded to roll her left arm over her right before recoiling back while hissing in pain.

"Why does my chest hurt so much? Dammit, I swear, they stab me with something worse every ti-" The words died in the pale-haired girl's throat as she lifted the covers from herself and discovered her new marking. Eyes wide, mouth open, Weiss turned to stare at Ruby who sheepishly shrugged and spoke.

"I, uh, guess I may have, uh, gone a little overboard." Weiss craned her head slightly sideways and began propping herself up on her elbows before stuttering out words in gasping fits.

"Y-y-you… you did this? W-w-why? I, I can't… ugh." Weiss collapsed in the exhaustion of sitting up and resigned herself to breathing heavily through her nose.

"I'm so sorry; you were so cold, you were shivering- even when I put the blankets back on you, and I just had to do something, I really did, so I just wanted to warm you up a little, so I did a little magic trick thing my sister showed me when I was little and you stopped shivering a little but I just wanted to make you comfortable so then I tried to make it a little hotter and then Blake knocked on the door and it startled me and… I burned you." Ruby finished with an exasperated sigh, to which Weiss smiled and opened her mouth to speak before passing out again. A beeping from behind Ruby indicated some kind of pain medicine was on releasing on its timed schedule; the half-dragon vaguely remembered the doctor mentioning that it made its recipients drowsy.

_Instant knock-out though? Curious as to what kind of definition he uses for drowsy._

Concerning as the current predicament was for Weiss, Ruby couldn't get two things out of her mind as she lifted the cover back over the burn and ceremoniously plopped back into her chair.

_She smiled at me after I explained myself, thankfully._

_She was even happier when I told her Blake's number was on the nightstand._

* * *

**A/N:**

**1: Her clothes aren't actually on fire- there's just a patch missing where Ruby's palm touched in her surprise, and now there's a "tattoo" which is burned into her skin.**

**2: Is Ruby entirely dragon? Is she half? Are either of those reasons why she can shapeshift? You'll find out soon enough, but for now she'll be named a myriad of demi-half-sorta-dragon until it clears up. I just HATE having RUBYRUBYRUBYBLAKEWEISSRUBY BLAKEBLAKEWEISSWEISSRUBYRUBY everywhere. (^^)**

**Thanks so much for being patient! I'll try to get the next one out significantly timely(ier?) (more timely?) than this one was, and I hope I don't disappoint with either! This might be a little short but I wanted y'all to have something after the hiatus… and I'm getting sleepy and I found a good place to end.**

**Please review & pm me with issues, complaints, compliments… you know, the fun stuff.**

**-Skij**


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